RECIPE: Smoked, Truly Country Style Ribs

Country style ribs are a thick, meaty cut.  They are delicious smoked and have the internal structure to stand up to a lot of cooking.  I like mine to be done, but not cooked so much that they lose their meaty bite.

Ingredients:

1-2 pkg Ramstead Ranch country style ribs

~¼ c mustard

~½ c any BBQ rub

1 c BBQ sauce

½ c pineapple juice

Tools:

Smoker

Meat thermometer

Oven-safe container that will fit all your ribs in a single layer (a lasagna pan with Al foil on top)

Instructions:

1. Assemble your rub.  A great place to start is the basic rub from How to BBQ Right.  A big shout out to Malcom Reed, who has been our guide in learning how to smoke great meals.
2. Coat thawed ribs liberally with mustard on all sides, then cover liberally on all sides with the rub
3. Let your ribs warm up on the counter while your smoker heats up (~30 minutes, and you can skip this if the food safety aspect makes you nervous)
4. Preheat smoker to 200-225°F, add the ribs and smoke 3-4 hrs.  You can either put your ribs directly on the rack or on a cooling rack that fits in your smoker (this is our preference because it makes transferring them to and from the smoker easier).
5. Preheat oven to 275°F and mix the pineapple juice and ½ c BBQ sauce together.
6. Transfer your ribs and juice mixture to the oven safe container and bake covered until the meat comes to 205°F (1-2 hrs).
7. Then put the ribs back on the cooling rack, brush on some extra bbq sauce, and transfer the ribs back in the smoker.
8. Smoke for an additional 15-30 minutes at 275°F, until they get nice and tacky looking. 
9. Rest 10 min and serve. 

Delicious rubbed down ribs ready to go in the smoker!

Braising ribs.